League One Volleyball Pro (LOVB) ​kicks off its inaugural season on Wednesday, as the largest brand in youth volleyball enters its professional era.

LOVB's debut season will feature six teams playing a collective total of 60 games over 14 weeks of play, with all squads taking aim at mid-April's league Finals.

Also on the inaugural schedule is a winner-take-all in-season tournament called the LOVB Classic, which will begin on Friday, February 14th, running through the Valentine's Day weekend.

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Capitalizing on markets known for their rabid NCAA volleyball fanbases, LOVB has rooted its six teams in Atlanta, Austin, Houston, Madison, Omaha, and Salt Lake City. Austin's roster, for example, includes eight former NCAA champions from the University of Texas, allowing Longhorns fans to easily follow recent college stars like Logan Eggleston and Madisen Skinner into their professional careers.

Similarly, Omaha's lineup will allow the Cornhusker faithful to see University of Nebraska legends Justine Wong-Orantes and Jordan Larson — the most decorated US indoor volleyball Olympian in history — back in action.

The LOVB youth league pipeline goes pro

With 54 junior clubs currently entrenched across the US, League One Volleyball already has an established pipeline for many NCAA stars interested in turning pro, including several members from Team USA's 2024 Olympic silver medal-winning squad.

That infrastructure aided LOVB in raising over $160 million in funding before its first serve, with sports icons like retired WNBA star Candace Parker and Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn backing the league.

In another testament to the league's anticipated success, LOVB's inked a broadcast deal with ESPN in May 2024. The contract guarantees that 10 of this season's matches will air across the sports giant's networks this season, with 18 contests set to stream on ESPN+.

"As viewership numbers for the Olympic Games and marquee collegiate games have proven once again, there is a massive audience appetite for women's volleyball around the globe, and we can’t wait to bring an elite level of professional volleyball," said LOVB president Rosie Spaulding. 

How to watch the first-ever LOVB pro volleyball match

LOVB is kicking off its professional league with an historic clash, as Atlanta's three-time Olympic medalist Kelsey Robinson Cook will face fellow Team USA stars Haleigh Washington and Jordyn Poulter of Salt Lake City for the first time on US soil on Wednesday.

Atlanta will host Salt Lake in the league's debut match, which will stream live at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN+.

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun! presented by TurboTax.

Every week on Sports Are Fun!, co-hosts soccer legend Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, and JWS intern BJ serve up their hottest takes on the biggest women's sports headlines.

This week, Sports Are Fun! talks all things NWSL with Gotham FC goalkeeper — and O'Hara's fellow Stanford alum — Ryan Campbell.

"We're five games in at this point and now I feel like things are starting to take shape — we can talk about them," O'Hara opens, referencing the start to the 2025 NWSL season. "I'm excited... the settling's happened, now we can get into season."

"So we're going to talk about what happened this weekend," she continues. "First on the list: Gotham FC. Thankfully we have our very own Gotham FC player in the house."

"I feel like what you're saying is like totally correct — the first three games, I think we scored not very much — a bit of a drought," says Campbell. "But, I mean, I practice with these girls every day. I know Ella Stevens can hit it upper-90, I know Esther's chipping me at practice. I know we have scoring power."

"We all had the sentiment and didn't really get discouraged and I don't think the staff was discouraged at all," she adds. "The resounding sentiment was, 'The rain's going to fall, like it's going to drop for us.' And I think you saw that against Angel City."

In addition to this weekend's NWSL action, Sports Are Fun! also tackles the WNBA Draft's viewership, the NCAA Gymnastics Championship, and so much more.

'Sports Are Fun!' reflects on former USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski

Then, Sports Are Fun turned to coaching. The headline? Angel City bringing on new manager Alexander Straus from Germany's Bayern Munich.

What makes a good coach? What do players look for in a coach? O'Hara knows one thing — playing under USWNT coach Vlatko Andonovski wasn't exactly a learning experience.

"Hollywood's got a new hitman you guys," Campbell quips about Straus. "He has piercing blue eyes. They rival Leo DiCaprio."

"But can he coach a soccer team to a championship?" asks O'Hara.

"I've always wondered this," says BJ. "You played at the college level. You play now professionally, you played for the national team — how are you listening to a coach?"

"I think a good coach is going to go in and take a player as experienced as Christen Press, Sydney Leroux, and say, 'This is what I see. This is what I think you can bring to the team. This is how I'm going to utilize you in the system that I want to play,'" O'Hara answers.

"What is funny is — this is going to sound bad. I feel like I shouldn't say this. I don't feel like I learned anything new from Vlatko," she says, subsequently referencing the former USWNT coach. "And, actually, post-having him as a coach, I was like, 'Wow, is that on me? Did I stop learning or did he not coach me?"

"I had conversations with other other players about it. They were like, 'No, no, no, that was on him.' Because I feel like I was always open. I was like, 'I want to be coached, tell me how I can.' Because as a player, yes, you become the type of player you are, but you're never perfect."

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place.

Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.

The Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) announced a plan to launch a Division II pro arm in 2026, providing a domestic stepping stone for players aspiring to top-flight leagues like the NWSL and USL Super League.

The same Cleveland ownership group that recently fell short of securing an NWSL expansion team is backing the venture, making good on their promise to bring professional women's soccer to Northeast Ohio.

The league will launch with a shortened season following the 2026 men's World Cup, before beginning its first full-fledged campaign in April 2027.

With 15 teams already confirmed, WPSL Pro intends to field clubs in an initial 16 to 20 markets.

Along with Cleveland, the inaugural WPSL Pro season will include teams in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Fargo, Houston, Oklahoma City, Sioux Falls, Wichita, and the Bay Area, among others. Each franchise will pay a $1 million fee to enter the league.

The WPSL has a history of fostering high-level amateur competition, currently housing over 100 clubs and boasting a roster of former players that includes USWNT icons Brandi Chastain, Alex Morgan, and Rose Lavelle. WPSL Pro, however, will become the US soccer pyramid's first-ever second-tier league.

"WPSL Pro is the bridge that's been missing — not just for players, but for the communities, investors, and brands ready to be part of the next chapter in women's sports," league co-founder Sean Jones said in a statement.

The No. 22 kit of Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark weighed in as last fall's second best-selling basketball jersey in the US according to sports outfitter Fanatics, with the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year trailing only NBA superstar Steph Curry on the top sales list.

Clark's merch dominance is nothing new, however. Her Indiana jersey sold out less than an hour after the Fever drafted her as the overall No. 1 pick in April 2024, making Clark the top seller of any draft night pick in the company's history.

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Even more, Clark's merchandise led last season's record-shattering WNBA sales, with Fanatics reporting that 2024 sales of player-specific gear earned a jaw-dropping 1,000% year-over-year increase by last summer's All-Star break — in large part thanks to the 2024 WNBA rookie class.

Fellow 2024 WNBA debutants Chicago Sky standout Angel Reese and then-Las Vegas Aces guard Kate Martin — Clark's NCAA teammate at Iowa — trailed the Fever star with the league's second- and fourth-most merchandise sales, respectively.

This year, a new WNBA rookie could give Clark a run for her money, as the No. 5 Dallas Wings jersey for 2025's No. 1 draft pick, Paige Bueckers, is already doing numbers at retailers across the country.

Already a brand mogul in her own right, Bueckers topped the 2024 NIL list as college basketball’s biggest earner via endorsement deals and merchandise sales prior to going pro.

Kenyan runner Sharon Lokedi shattered the women’s course record at the 2025 Boston Marathon on Monday, finishing the 129th edition of the race in 2:17:22 — more than two and a half minutes faster than the previous record set by Ethiopia's Buzunesh Deba in 2014.

The victory marked the 31-year-old runner's second major marathon championship following her 2022 New York City Marathon win.

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After finishing second in the 2024 Boston Marathon behind fellow Kenyan Hellen Obiri, Lokedi avenged her runner-up status by overtaking the back-to-back defending champion in the final kilometer of Monday’s race.

"I'm always second to her and today I was like, 'There’s no way,'" Lokedi said of her rivalry with Obiri. "I just have to put it out there and fight 'til the end and see how it goes. I'm so glad I ran that fast and she was right behind me. We all fought and wanted this so bad."

All of this year’s top three finishers broke through the course record pace, with Obiri and Ethiopia's Yalemzerf Yehualaw joining Lokedi both at the finish line and in the Boston Marathon's record book.

Along with her $150,000 winner's check, Lokedi will pocket an additional $50,000 for claiming the fastest women's time in Boston Marathon history.